I'm probably not the best person here to answer that question, but according to my dictionary (Pocket Oxford Irish), 'tuata' as a noun means 'a lay person' and as an adjective - 'lay, secular'. And it's the same here: http://www.irishdictionary.ie/dictionary Hope it somehow fits the context.

So it is! That's so werid, I swear I looked up that website and it wasn't there It must like you more than it likes me, Luned. Thanks for your help, both of you! The whole poem is called 'A Vision of Glendalough'. It's a bit mad and full of weird mythology and references which I'm still trying to collate - there must be one to every other line Eugh. Does anyone know who or what 'Páid Bairead' is?

xxx

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot, 'Little Gidding' V

Also, if the poem's a few decades old, it could be 'a tuatha'. Rather than a 'H', there would be a seimhiú or a dot on top of the letter before where the 'h' is now. Sort of like Teach Jack, their website is teacjack.com because they still use the old way on their logo and stuff.

So it could be 'a tuatha', literally 'people of', sometimes in modern Irish used as slang for 'folk' as in 'old folk'. It's only a possibility for the sake of conversation, but I'd definitely go for Luned's findings

Edit: On Altan's song, Dónal Agus Morag, the second line is 'Bhí tuatanaigh na h-Alban ann', translated to 'Ordinary folk from Scotland where there'. So it could mean ordinary folk...

That's all fab - thanks Roibeard, that might come in useful with some close-reading stuff.

Anyone know about Páid Bairead?

and also: another translation: 'Sasca nua darb ainm Éire' - something about the new name of Ireland? Is this a phrase from something? The context would suggest it has some kind of political context or it might be from a speech or something....?

[If it is from a speech, please be aware I have no idea what it is, or what it's about, and if the speech is offensive to anyone, it wasn't intended at all!!]

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-T. S. Eliot, 'Little Gidding' V